Peoria boy's dream fulfilled with joyride in street sweeper

A.J. Hall stepped outside a street sweeper and looked up. His head bobbed a forward "Yes." "I can't believe I just drove a street sweeper," he said, and crossed one dream off a long bucket list. With his service dog, Mugs, sitting beside him Friday, A.J. swept the p...

A.J. Hall stepped outside a street sweeper and looked up. His head bobbed a forward "Yes."

"I can't believe I just drove a street sweeper," he said, and crossed one dream off a long bucket list.

With his service dog, Mugs, sitting beside him Friday, A.J. swept the parking lot of the Lester D. Bergsten Public Works Facility, fulfilling a wish to pilot a street sweeper, one he's had since a doctor's appointment in Denver.

Alexander James Hall is 16 and has had 11 surgeries in his young life, some to combat osteoporosis and others to help his severe asthma. He is besieged by chronic problems that force him to take 23 pills daily.

In July, his caretaker and mother, Carol Hall, was diagnosed with a brain tumor that's left her an estimated two years to live.

But the thought of what will happen to A.J. once she is gone was put on hold Friday, while A.J. navigated the sweeper.

"Oh my goodness, at the rate they're going they're all going to throw up," said Carol Hall, watching her son drive doughnuts around the parking lot. "This is beyond words."

They boy has dreamed of driving a street sweeper since he was 7 years old. Before Friday, he talked about being in a street sweeper every day, his mother said, and likened it to his love for vacuuming.

"It's the one thing in my life I can control," he said.

Sometimes A.J. will vacuum for hours. The chore allows him order in his chaotic life, said his grandmother Jane Loos, and street sweeping is that same feeling, but on a grander scale.

"He doesn't get an awful lot of high points in his life, and this is definitely one of them," she said.

Before Friday, A.J. said he dreamed of things like swimming with dolphins, things he could finish in a day. After reading about A.J. and his wish, city officials decided to make one of his dreams come true.

"Come see us again, we might need an operator," one of the street sweepers said after A.J.'s ride.

A.J. nodded "yes."

"This is the best day of my life," he said.

Nona Tepper can be reached at 686-3251 or ntepper@pjstar.com. Follow her on Twitter @ntepper90.